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Pro-tip: Don’t Put Your iPad in the Plane Seat Pocket Unless…

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you have a John San Diego…

I was flying back from Dreamforce 2011 on Southwest and happened to run into a buddy, Brandon Willey. We secured seats together and had killer conversation all the way back. Prior to Brandon finding his seat, I’d pulled out my iPad though I had a suspicion that I’d not end up using it. I figured my buddy and I would end up talking throughout. So at some point I stuck it in the seat back and I think somewhere in the back of my head, I realized it probably wasn’t a good idea.

So of course we do get into killer conversation and then by the time we get to the gate, I just grab my stuff and roll. It wasn’t until many, many hours later when I was unpacking that I realized my iPad was missing.

I checked the Southwest website, called in directly and logged my missing iPad. I contacted the airport lost and found with no luck there either. I also reached out to @SouthwestAir over Twitter. Customer support said if they found it that I’d hear back in 2 weeks. @SouthwestAir asked if I’d logged a case. So as much as I do love Southwest, I really had very little hope that I’d ever see the iPad again.

And then out of the blue, I get a call from a number that’s not in my phone.

It turns out that a mechanic, John San Diego, from Southwest had found the iPad and then went out of his way to find my info and contact me directly. He figured that he could ensure that it made it back to me rather than inject it back into the system and never hear what happened.

So he called & I met him at CostCo and got my iPad back.

I tried to give him a reward multiple times but he wouldn’t take it.

Also turns out that he is from Hawaii. I’d guessed that he might be from the way he spoke. When I saw him, he had a UH shirt on which sealed the deal. He is a super nice guy and we talked about paddling outrigger canoe, stand up and more. Won’t be surprised if we end up hanging out & paddling in the future.

John San DiegoI’m still pretty blown away that he actually found the iPad and then went out of his way to return it. And then I can’t believe that he wouldn’t take a reward. I guess sometimes I am way too pessimistic when it comes to human nature.

Life is pretty cool sometimes.

Big, big mahalo to…

John San Diego

A&P Mechanic
Phoenix Maintenance Station
Southwest Airlines

 

Kappou Gomi in San Francisco

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Kappou Gomi is amazing. This is EXACTLY what I want. EXACTLY… I would *kill* to have this restaurant in Arizona. I think that the only reason that this place wasn’t hours deep in wait and priced through the roof could be that it’s a bit of a hike from downtown?

It was phenomenal though. First of all there is a huge, huge menu and it’s pretty tough to determine what to order. They have each fish listed with 7-10 different preparations. Then there is a specials menu and a beer and sake menu. I was pretty overwhelmed so I put myself in the hands of the lovely older ladies that were manning the restaurant. You never see the chef as he’s actually in the kitchen. They soooo did me right.

I ended up ordering or having 4 dishes ordered for me.

I got the bonito sashimi. That was fantastic and the presentation was gorgeous. It comes with the fish’s head and tail. I don’t know if I’ve seen a more beautiful fish in recent memory. Looked pristine and fresh as could be. Served with a light ponzu with fresh grated ginger and chopped scallions. Wonderful dish.

That was followed by one of my favorite dishes in recent memory. One of the ladies asked if unagi sunomono sounded good. I much prefer to put myself in the hands of those who know so while it sounded good but really not terribly exciting, I said sure. I had no idea what was to come. It came out as a shallow bowl of vinegared vegetables (sliced cucumber, daikon, lotus root) and peaches. There was also a bit of a creamy sauce with the sliced cucumbers. There was a good amount of the sunomono dressing and also a square sheet of gelee over the unagi and another one beneath it. The dish was nice to look at but it didn’t really give any indication of what was to come. When I dug in, the combination of flavors and textures and temperatures was amazing. The sweet, fatty, warm unagi was beautiful with the cool vinegared vegetables. Just perfect juxtaposition. I ate it up to the last bit and almost embarrassed myself by drinking the remains of the dressing. I’ll be thinking about this dish for a long time.

That was followed by a dish called grilled golden yolk tako. It was basically lightly grilled octopus that I believe was sauteed in egg yolk and oil and then presented in a hollowed out apple. It was lovely and I way dug the egg yolk, oil broth. I was again hard put to not put the apple to my lips & drink the last of it.

The sole disappointment of the night was that they were out of uni. I actually tried to order this dish with uni but they had sold out. I can’t even imagine what this would have been like with uni.

Did I mention that Kappou Gomi rules btw?

Ochazuke at Kappou GomiOk on to the next dish. My final dish, as the ladies were recommending that I kind of follow a traditional pattern was ochazuke. Ochazuke or chazuke if you’re not familiar with it is basically a simple dish where you pour tea over rice and add some savory toppings. While ochazuke typically comes with tea, (with the cha connoting tea) it was actually replaced with a gorgeous bonito broth. You could have it with a selection of ume, cod roe, salmon, salmon eggs and maybe a couple other items. I opted for the ikura (and I guess I’m smart because it was absolutely perfect). It also came with some fresh wasabi and some other condiments. Inside the bowl was some shaved nori, some pickled radish, some other herbs and something that looked like bee pollen? This dish was amazing. The flavors were super subtle but they were so clean and everything went together just perfectly. I’ve had so many meals where the chef puts together combinations that don’t better the ingredients. I’ve had many where the chef really does elevate the ingredients and then I’ve had a few dishes here and there where it’s absolutely perfect. This was perfect. Same with the unagi sunomono. Perfect…

I think most of these dishes with the exception of the sashami were $10 or under. The value here is off the charts.

This place is a freaking gem and it has immediately jumped into the very top of my favorite restaurants anywhere.

The ladies were lovely as well. I think it helped that I was completely open minded and grateful. I can see how some of the posters here might have differing opinions but if you’re very open to trying new things and you’re nice and polite enough (as the ladies do seem a bit charmingly shy at first) and you let them lead you, I don’t see how you cannot absolutely love Kappou Gomi.

If you’re looking for your standard sushi place or the same dishes that you might be a fan of elsewhere, it’s not that.

Absolutely transcendent meal for me…

I will not come back to San Francisco without coming here.

Kappou Gomi
5524 Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, CA
(415) 221-5353 ‎

Food Coming Too

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Ochazuke at Kappou GomiOk. I’ve been thinking of food blogging for years. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it though as there are already a bunch of good food bloggers out there. Plus it’s a major commitment to do it right. I didn’t want to start a food blog and just be lame or just post every once in a while. When I did my Ignite Phoenix presentation on great food in Phoenix, I put up a site at http://phxnom.com & thought about pushing out food posts. Just couldn’t bring myself to do it though.

And then when Dom (Dominic Armato – @skilletdoux) moved to town and started blogging Phoenix, I really didn’t want to do it anymore. In my mind, he does exactly what I would aspire to do if I were to be more knowledgeable about food, more committed to writing excellence and just plain more food obsessed. Don’t get me wrong, I do love a lot of the other food blogs around town but his is what I would want mine to be if I ever decided to really commit. And with him already doing that, a food blog by me is even less needed. Go read his blog btw – http://skilletdoux.com.

So with the lack of commitment to what is needed to really, really crush a food blog in the way I’d like to, I’m just going to dump some food posts here. This blog is so inconsistent that I’m sure nobody will care.

So I’m going to start posting some food stuff here. My recent meal at Kappou Gomi in San Francisco is making me do it. I hit a lot of other great places I dug that people love (Yank Sing, Ame, Fifth Floor, Blue Bottle Coffee, Four Barrel Coffee, etc.) but it was Kappou Gomi that demands that I spread the word.

So look for some food posts every now and then even though they don’t make any sense in the context of this blog (not that it really has much at all).

Kappou Gomi coming….

Vacation Bonuses with @theweelees

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hayden-chrisSo just got back from vacation and it was wonderful. I’ll post some details of what we did and where we went in case it might help anybody else but the best thing about the trip had nothing to do with the locations or the activities.

The best thing about the trip was the chance to be able to spend time with the family. I definitely don’t get to spend anywhere near as much quality time with them any other time of the year.

I was able to be present for several 1sts by Hayden, our 9 month old. That was very, very cool.

  • From the beginning of the trip, I could see that he is super mobile now. He does kind of a commando crawl but he is pretty quick with it. He loves to be on the floor too. The days that we had long drives, you could see that he was aching for floor time the minute we stopped and he got some space.
  • Yesterday, when we were at the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, he figured out how to clap. Heather and the girls sing a “clap hands” song with him that they clap to. Well he figured out how to clap on his own and he couldn’t have been happier about it. He was going to town. Totally funny.
  • The day before that, at Disneyland, he figured out how to hold his bottle and drink on his own. It happened right in front of the Jungle Cruise in a shady spot that we’d camped out in to take in some fruit and hydro. Heather gave him some apple juice and he just grabbed the bottle and continued drinking on his own. He got more comfortable with it in other places throughout the day too. Very cool to see.
  • Then over the past few days, he also had his first finger food. Heather had bought some veggie puffs and over the course of the vacation, he went from being introduced to them to eating them to being able to grasp one in his hand, get it in his mouth and put it down.

So neat to be present for these things.

Then it was fun to see our funny, little, quirky girl, Sienna, throughout the trip. She talks so well now. She acts so grown up too. She even plays the role of a cop with her sister. She said so many funny things over the course of the vacation. Just continues to endear herself more and more to us. Just love her quirkiness.

And then it was a good bit of parenting with our oldest. Don’t get me wrong. She is a wonderful kid but we have super high expectations of all of them (and especially her with her being the oldest) with regard to manners, being polite, interacting with strangers, listening, etc. It was good to have consistent time with her without the affect of school peers. Made some great strides with that bit of sassiness and the lack of listening that seems to creep in when these kids they hit school. She really seemed to get back more to her self of old and even seemed to be proud of it when we talked about it. With the work on manners and such, she definitely has grown dramatically in other areas. She was a wonderful big sister and a big help. Then she’s really becoming a food nerd herself. She eats everything and really enjoys it. Couldn’t get her to stop bugging us to do Korean BBQ again. She was even ready to leave Disneyland after 2 rides as long as we’d be going back there. And when I asked her what her 3 favorite things on the trip were, 2 of them were meals (in addition to the Bellagio fountains). They were only supplanted when I inquired about the beach and Disneyland.

Then of course, it was awesome to get to spend time with Heather. She is such a great mom, great wife and a great lady. We really had so much fun with the kids.

And then of course, there was the food…

Today’s Sentence

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sentenceToday by Liz Danzico – #Trust30 Day 2

Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing. The force of character is cumulative. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

If ‘the voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks,’ then it is more genuine to be present today than to recount yesterdays. How would you describe today using only one sentence? Tell today’s sentence to one other person. Repeat each day.

Today I cranked at work, came home, ate and played with my family, waited for my wife, wrote and went back to work (at home).

I’m not sure I get this one. I’m also not sure that the picture has anything to do with anything.

Image credit: GMZ Sentence Vocabulary by newdavich on flickr

15 Minutes to Live: My Story

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15minOk, here is my first foray into the #Trust30 project (a 30-day prompted online writing challenge that encourages you to look within and trust yourself).

I found it through the 2 local representatives (@jmoriarty, @tdhurst) involved with the folks behind it – @projectdomino (Seth Godin’s new publishing venture).

As it just started yesterday, check it out and jump in! More at http://ralphwaldoemerson.me/

The first prompt (yesterday’s) is 15 Minutes to Live by Gwen Bell.

You just discovered you have fifteen minutes to live.

1. Set a timer for fifteen minutes.2. Write the story that has to be written.

Couple warnings…

  • I’m a big believer in images in posts but with this being a writing exercise, I’m going to dispense with them for my #Trust30 in order to just ship.
  • I very much prefer to write in an informal, conversational tone of voice. Giving you fair warning in case you are a grammar nazi. If so, I’ll probably drive you crazy.

15 Minutes to Live: My Story – #Trust30 Day 1

Write the story that has to be written. What does that mean? Write my life story? Who cares about that? Some great memories. Sure it’d probably be nice for my kids to have some stories to tell. Maybe a couple highlights. I’ll start there & then figure out what to do with the rest of the time.

Grew up in AZ to a great family. Amazing, amazing mother and father. Wonderful sisters. Nothing out of the ordinary really. Guess one thing to remark upon that came into play later is that growing up I worked at my dad’s restaurant, the Glass Door, which was absolutely stellar. I’m sure it contributed to my food obsession later in life. Went away to college in DC. Nothing really to say there except that’s where I started playing volleyball – one of my passions.

Came back after college, worked & played more volleyball. Eventually moved out to Huntington Beach years later for work and more volleyball. Discovered how much I really loved sand volleyball and how much better of a game it was for me. Also started paddling outrigger canoe out of Long Beach toward the end of my stint there.

Eventually decided to move to Hawaii. I cut my pay in half & made the move. The main motivation was to paddle outrigger canoe there. I also am a huge Hawaii fan. Really, really enjoyed the island. So beautiful. So love the ocean. After a bit, moved to Oahu back with the previous company to have my cake and eat it too. Over doubled my salary again, I was still in Hawaii (Lanikai no less) and I was still going to paddle. Moved about 75 yards away from the beach the best men’s canoe club in the world paddled out of and joined. Of course nothing turns out like you expect. With the extra cash came extra responsibilities and I was back to my pre-Kauai routine of 12-14 hour days. Only made 1 practice. No eating the cake too. I again absolutely loved the island. So beautiful. And it also filled my need for great food and a bit more stimulation, mainly food. Found so many wonderful places to eat. And then I met my wife.

I had come back to AZ for my sister’s wedding to a wonderful guy, an Aussie. I’d met him initially on Kauai and thought to myself “this guy is even nicer than me”. Once upon a time I was really, really nice & quite sensitive. That was before I, by choice, toughened up. (Sorry Heather) Well I came back for the wedding (actually it was their 2nd wedding as the first was a quickie Vegas job I attended where I brought leis from Hawaii – I forget just how much I love Hawaiian leis) and met my wife. She happens to be my brother-in-law’s sister.

It was pretty much infatuation at first sight for me. She was beautiful, cool, fun and just a great person. She’s was it. Even with the heart of stone, I think she’s made me cry 2 of the 3 times I can remember crying (other than sports movies) in the past 20 years (once as she was walking up the aisle toward me and another worrying about her after the birth of our first). I think the 3rd time might not count specifically toward her as it was at the birth of our last and it was just the whole event and the joy of meeting our unknown child that was so moving.

She’s another Aussie of course and unfortunately she had brought her boyfriend with her. I found out soon he was going to ask her to marry him on their big US trip. After I found out, I was wrecked. Had a conversation with my amazing mother & amazing sister and decided I might as well go for it. Used everything at my disposal and closed the deal in 9 days. There is a wonderful series of synchronicities that I love but it’s not going to make this 15 minutes. She went back to Australia, sold her house, quit her job and moved to Oahu. We had a great series of months before we decided it just made sense to head back to AZ where my family and her brother were.

Headed back and lived with our siblings for a good while and played quite a bit of golf with my excellent father. Great times. Finally made the decision and asked Heather to marry me. I still remember the day. It was a great one making mai tai’s and hanging out in the pool. I used a little magic trick in the proposal – it was a respectable one. She said yes and the family came back to party. Another excellent day.

Somewhere along the line I started working for my sister at CSI. Made arrangements for the wedding and headed back to Australia to tie the knot. Had a wonderful trip with her lovely family and really grew to love Tasmania and her family. Also had wonderful stays in Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland.

Came back and started life. Continued to grind away at CSI. Bought a house and found Chowhound. Now I’ve always had a major passion for food and felt a bit let down in Phoenix after living in Washington DC, Orange County and Hawaii. Chowhound opened up my eyes to a ton of wonderful Phoenix places with great food and character. Really made Phoenix so much more livable for us. It also started introducing us to some of the food nerd community that would eventually become many of our friends.

As social media came about, I took interest in that early on and it became another of my passions. I loved the way that it helped create community. I felt more connected here than ever before in my life. That’s just continued to deepen as time has gone by. I found communities of folks with similar passions (food, social media, technology, business). And I really enjoyed it – and the technology.

Somewhere along here came our first child, Marina. She is a wonderful girl. Smart, talented and good hearted. The years of learning about raising a child were so great. I definitely haven’t looked back on them as much as I should. We were so worried back then. I loved our first house during those days too. Small, comfy, ours.

At some point, we figured a way to move over into my old neighborhood (3 houses down from my Mom, the house I grew up in, and 7 housed down from Jen & Stu). We loved the new house for it’s extra space and it’s open vibe. Heather loved it for it’s pool. I realize I’ve left out mentioning Heather’s first dog. She came with a dog. I’m not a huge dog person, stems from having allergies my whole life. That dog, Nina, though was amazing. I loved her dearly and still miss her. Somewhere in here, she stared to get old and we got a puppy (another German Shepherd) and she has turned into  a wonderful dog.

Next came our 2nd child, Sienna. We had such a blast with her growing up and I was able to be so much more at ease. I thoroughly enjoyed those early years (my favorites are those from around a year to year three). She turned out to be a very gentle, caring, considerate, sensitive girl. I didn’t expect it as in the beginning, her nickname was “The Destroyer” because she was tough as a rock. That’s only on the outside though. She has turned out to be a lovely girl.

And then recently came our last child, Hayden, a boy. He is amazing and I was surprised at how excited I was to have a son. I didn’t think it mattered at all and it doesn’t really but it is still quite fun. He is wonderful and has such a great nature. I also love his boy-ness. He’s so solid and strong.

And that is my life. I work a lot and love my company, my business partner, my colleagues. But the main thing in my story that had to be written is my family. I spend most all of the time I’m not working with them. We’re all together all throughout the weekends and we sit down to dinner every night. We go out for coffee. We find great places to eat together. We’re hiking now. We go on vacations together. We don’t do very much apart. I have a great wife and a great family. That’s the biggest part of who I am.

It’s pretty enlightening to see just how much didn’t make the story.

I’ve also failed this exercise because I’ve gone way over my 15 minutes (about double). I’ve also just written about my life. I don’t know that I intended to do that or would necessarily want to spend my last 15 minutes doing that. I think I planned to spend 5 or so doing that and use the other 10 for something else. Maybe conveying some thoughts or some wisdom that was going to pop into my head. Didn’t happen though. I guess that’s part of who I am. I’m a creature of momentum. Sometimes it’s hard to get me rolling but once I am, I just go.

So there it is. That’s my first effort for the #Trust30 initiative. No words of wisdom, just a bit of narrative of what stands out to me and what I hold to be important.

Image credit: Andy Warhol says we get by Earl – What I Saw 2.0 on flickr

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